DODOcase has launched a new Kindle case, and we’re really excited about them! Made from CNC-machined bamboo and traditional book-binding techniques (made here in SF), the Kindle case is an excellent extension of their line of iPad products.

The cases are extremely customizable (any color interior! any exterior! even leather! foil stamping!) and very sturdy.

 
Recommended, especially next to fireplace on a wintery night. Add a glass of scotch for good measure.

I am excited to announce a Big Move: Nerve Action has relocated to San Francisco! The new office, located centrally in the Soma district, has a larger space, more people, a great model shop, and enhances the already superior service!

I’m sharing space with the illustrious and highly skilled Kicker Studio, widely recognized as a leader in device design, gestural interfaces, and UI design.

 
Together we offer more services than either can alone. It’s all very exciting, and both companies are psyched about the opportunities!

A few years back, I helped design and build a robot.
Last week, that robot successfully performed it’s first heart surgery.
I’m so proud of you, son.

Developed for Catheter Robotics, the Remote Catheter Manipulation System allowed Dr Andre Ng to remotely navigate a catheter through blood vessels from the groin to the heart, and implant internal electrodes.

 
One of the most interesting parts of the development was the controller. Despite being an entirely digital signal, the controller itself is highly analog and tactile: A lever controls the catheter’s prehensile end, while the front knob rotates the entire catheter. Used together, these two interfaces allow the surgeon to direct the catheter as it navigates through the body.

 
The robot allows a surgeon to avoid exposure to the X-rays used to observe the operation during surgery. While a single surgery is safe for the patient, the hundreds of surgeries that surgeons perform greatly increases their radiation-exposure risks. EVERYONE WINS!

I’m pleased to be donating a Cable Table to a charity auction organized by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Organization of Minority Residents and Fellows.

 
The event is being held at the Liberty Hotel (on the Red Line, at Charles St)
Friday, February 19, 2010, 7pm
Tickets are $45
Get more info and purchase tickets via Eventbrite.

Also on offer:

 
Oh, look:

New England Patriots players Jerod Mayo and Tyrone McKenzie will be there.

 

Also: Tim Murray, the Lieutenant Governor

 
It should be great fun.
(Even if you can’t make it to the auction, you can still get one on Etsy.)

ONE Condoms are adding a new product to the brand with some sweet packaging mods. The tin (which we are pretty proud of, BTW) maintains it’s awesomeness. Pic below the fold.

I recently attended a dinner party hosted by a friend who was house-sitting. The home-owners happened to own a copy of Bhutan, the largest book in the world. It is, of course, absolutely gorgeous (as it should be, for $30,000). I took some snaps.

 

The closed book is about 5 feet tall by 3 feet. It comes with its own stand. You can read about the project here or here if you are interested.

 
You can buy a lesser version for $2400.89, too, by the way.

 
Those are my friends Steve and Dana, FYI.

 
It is a very, very impressive thing.

A product line (which I co-designed) is so new that it isn’t even Google-able, but it still managed to get itself named a Finalist for the International Housewares Design Awards. Sneak peak below the fold.

 

The Greens are people-themed kitchen goods developed in conjunction with Chris Raia for Boston Warehouse. They are finalists in the Kitchen Tools category, and possibly up for an award for environmentalism. Winners will be announced at the International Housewares Show in February. Whatever happens, were pretty psyched to be nominated. See you in New York!

 
Interestingly, The Greens are made from a recently-developed recycled plastic that incorporates wood as a filler to use less plastic. Don’t worry! It’s safe! And hygienic!

I recently had the opportunity to tour the soon-to-open Design Annex co-working environment in Union Sq, Somerville. It’s a really exciting space focused on helping creatives build a strong community and leverage each other’s skills.

Mimi Graney, of Union Square Main Streets, is heading the non-profit program, which is aimed specifically at professional designers, architects, illustrators, and the like. I have met a number of the prospective members, and it is shaping into a very cool situation.

The space is newly renovated, and right in the center of Union. It’s in the former police station (which inspired the name of Precinct, the bar conveniently located downstairs).

The layout is really fantastic: a large work space with numerous monitor stations (BYO laptop); a generous pin-up wall; kitchen/eating space; locker-space; a privacy room for calls; conference room; and a mezzanine-level library space with an amazing skylight roof. There’s also shared equipment like printers, scanners, spray-booth, and all that. It’s pretty great.

The mezzanine level, with chairs reclaimed from the Somerville Theater

Conference room, the charming Ms. Graney

The space will be open for business in mid-December, and they are actively accepting members. If I didn’t already have a studio (a mere 3 blocks away), I would be all over this.

Congratulations to the team over at ONE: they’ve secured a really great position with Target! Starting next March, ONE Condoms will be available from the retailer nation-wide, and sold, of course, in the packaging designed here at Nerve Action.

To celebrate, I put a sneak peak of ONE’s newest Nerve Action-designed product below the fold.

BTW, if you can’t wait until March, you can always get ONE’s products at most Walgreens, Publix, and Albertson’s locations. If you are in Canada, you can get them at Shopper’s Drug Mart.

Another Canadian bonus: ONE’s new personal lubricant was just released up in the Great White, and we also designed that. Sorry, American friends, you will have to wait for FDA approval (required for all lubes in the US) but here’s a picture, so keep your eyes peeled.

I know! Pretty cool, right?

Clearly, robots evolve. Cylons, for example, first got badder ass and then grew skin. But please, art directors and engineers, you need to stop fetishizing white robots with black mechanical guts.

It’s getting a little played out, dudes.

It begins, as these things do, in Japan

OK, so here were are in 1987, and anime is about to break out big. One of the biggest is going to be Ghost In The Shell, by Masamune Shirow. (Careful: the trailer has cartoon boobs.) By the way, that’s cybernetic armor on a (naked) human, not a full-on robot, but you can see where this is going.

Maybe they’re white because Iceland is cold

 
Jump ahead a decade, and Björk is having (the amazing) Chris Cunningham direct the video for All Is Full Of Love. It’s all about sexy girl-bots that build each other and then fall in love and make out. (Careful: robot boobs.) Looks pretty similar, right? However, this is clearly an homage, and Cunningham has taken the aesthetic in an entirely new direction. And AND, Cunningham made all those sick Aphex Twin videos, not to mention this Japanese psycho-ward mini-film featuring a talking dog for Squarepusher, so it’s cool.

After the apex, the downward trajectory accelerates quickly

So now pretend you are Alex Proyas, circa 2004. You helmed Dark City, so your visual creativity is rather beyond questioning. You are about to make an adaptation of I, Robot, the beloved Asimov novel. Who do you tap to be your art director? Oh, how about someone who did not one, but two Ernest movies? That will DEFINITELY get you something exciting in the robot-taxonomy department.

A hero runs afoul

Stan Winston, you were awesome. You absolutely pushed the art forward. You earned 4 Academy Awards. You were better than a pseudo-sexy-girl-robot ripoff-ad that got slapped on the sides of buses. I hope the Times is lying and you didn’t do this. No, wait, it’s (unlinkably) posted in your portfolio.

It ends, as these things do, in Japan

The white-shell-over-black-joints trend has become completely pervasive, and utterly thoughtless. Is it surprising that engineers keep beating this particular dead horse/labor-saving-device?

I leave you with what I can only hope is the final, inbred, malformed freak of this gnarled branch of the robo-evolutionary tree: